What the lion cannot manage to do the fox can
by MiranaKannon
Summary: Throwing a fox into a wolves den isn't the best idea in most cases. Perhaps instead of becoming meat to the others this fox can teach the wolves a thing or two. But how can wolves trust one whose papers are covered with black lines and mystery.
1. Welcome to the One Four One

**Welcome to the One Four One**

If there was one thing that this Master sergeant knew, it was when she was not wanted. Sure at times it was more obvious than usual, for example when bullets came flying your way…that was a more than obvious way of telling someone that they were not wanted in the area. Luckily this was not said example; her instinct was telling her that the guys around here didn't take FNG's too lightly. Which she couldn't really blame the boys for, the last thing any Special Forces Unit wanted was to train a new guy after losing a reliable brother… and she was sure the guys around here were more than anal with the fact that the FNG was a gal at that- most soldiers, though they wouldn't admit it, had some sort of pride about being in one of the endangered 'all male' units.

The female was anything but dressed for the occasion, it seemed that Shepard didn't give a damn that she was on R&R time back at home. He wanted her here so he came personally to bring her to the base, which would explain why she was in the attire she was in- tank top and some ACU bottoms. The General had caught her while she was in the middle of her morning jog out in the beautiful country side of New York. To say that the female was on good terms with her new General would be a damn lie, the female was seething over the fact that she was pretty much thrown back into the battle zone with only a days-worth of R&R. It wasn't helping that she had been sitting in the chair he had ordered her to stay in for a good two hours either.

Soldier or not if you wanted to meet a female the last thing you do is keep her waiting. In the two hours of waiting the female had thrown her hair up into a high ponytail with the hair tie she had put around her wrist hours ago. Arms crossed, hazel eyes were set on the only door in the room, in the snipers eyes this Task Force was quickly losing any credibility she had for them in the past. Crossing her right leg over her left the female let out a sigh, if there was one thing the female hated it was being bored hands down. There was a reason why she jumped into the military as quickly as she did after graduation, it was in high hopes that shit like this wouldn't happen.

Before her mind was allowed to run down memory lane the females eyes focused once more on the door the second she heard a light 'click', _joyful lock the FNG in the insanity room, because everyone knows he has better things to be doing._ Watching the figure as he made his way over to her the female noted the rank and uncrossed her arms and legs before positioning herself toward the table and taking the seated position of attention. Though her eyes were now not set on the man she could still make out his appearance through her peripherals. He was obviously in damn good shape, was damn sure taller than her, wielded Captain Ranks, had to have just finished some sort of PT –that or he just naturally sweated like a pig and smelled salty- and had confidence pouring out of him like there was no tomorrow.

As he took his seat in front of her, Fletcher didn't bother to try and hide her annoyance. He was going over her file, nothing wrong in that aside from the fact that she had been setting here for an n'th amount of time. _"Leave it to Shepard to fill in our vacancy without giving us so much as a warning…" _She had heard him mumble that when he walked in, only now was it being comprehended. _So that's why I was setting here for so damn long…the damn General hadn't even told them he found a FNG. Lovely._ "One hell of a background for someone your age… huh Sergeant?" Fletchers left eye twitched as she decoded the seemingly innocent small talk. _More like one hell of a background for your gender._

"No offence to you or your men Captain. But I don't take too kindly to the female shit that I know is running through both your men's mind and your own." Speaking out of line could earn you one of two things; trouble or respect. Being a person who followed her gut (instinct) more than your average John Doe, something told her she would get the later out of the Captain. That very gut feeling was proven correct with the smirk that played on his lips. "Sir." She finally added.

"I am not going to act like your gender has no effect in all of our eyes… you seem to know damn well the kind of chaos that is causing." He went back to looking at her paperwork, "That in itself had already caused problems during our morning training. The men wouldn't shut up." Now it was Fletchers turn to smirk, "To think that they are giving their hopes up. None of us expected to end up with a Feisty fox like yourself." Something seemed to click in his mind and the Master Sergeant seemed to already know where that was going for she gave him an accepting nod. "Alright then fox, consider yourself part of one for one." He stood up and she followed suit.

"Before I meet the hounds, I would like to know where the hell it is I will be staying. Captain." Out of habit the female brought her hand up to a salute.

"We don't do any of that shit here in the One four one, Sergeant." The Master Sergeant nodded bringing the salute down as she followed him out of the room. "Shepard has made it more than obvious he doesn't want you bunking with anyone of the _hounds,_ so until further notice you will be staying in one of the empty officer rooms we have down my hall."

"Joy, speaking of the ass did he resupply me with new gear, dress, and such forth." The Captain merely raised a brow seemingly unbothered by the way she had addressed their commander. "Prick picked me up a day into my R&R, as far as I know he didn't grab any of my gear, weapons, or clothing. And unless you want me running the streets of wherever the hell he drops us off at in this." She motioned down to her clothes, "We may have a small problem." The two continued down another hall before making a left and stopping in front of the third door on the right. Not bothering to answer her question the Captain opened up the room greeting the two to a white based room with a twin sized bed- _awww no windows with a beautiful view of the surrounding area._ The female thought quite sarcastically, "It seems that my question is answered." The Sergeant made her way into the room and the bag that sat in the middle of it. "Look at that, he went out of his way to get my gear and weapons. Can't say the same for uniforms." Fletcher/Fox mused glancing at the open closet.

"Make yourself feel at home fox. The rest of the _hounds_ are out in the rec room if you want to meet them."

"Captain." The female called over her shoulder as she brought herself back to her feet, "As much as I am sure you love being called that. And even though I know damn well you know my name, I do say some introduction is needed. Unless of course, you want me to keep the first impression I have of ya." Walking over to the man who hadn't had enough time to even turn around Fox brought her hand out for a shake, "Master Sergeant Sophitia "Fox" Fletcher." First the Russian accented Captain merely looked down at the extended hand; finally he had his grasp hers firmly.

"Captain John "Soap" MacTavish." With that the two shook and he took his leave. Shutting the door behind him Fox made her way back over to the bag. It had to have been an old issued bag, the last time she had seen one like this was back when she was in high school and she had used the one her father carried around for Desert Storm. It was the old issued AG415 color, and was literally just a cylinder. Which didn't bother her; she unlatched the hook and opened up the four folds. She nearly jumped at the site that greeted her, key word nearly. Obviously the General hadn't cared too much if the damn thing blew up on its way over here, all her claymores and semtex's looked as if they were just chucked inside the bag on the bottom. Before she could get to them she pulled out her .50 Cal silenced sniper, which luckily still had the silencer on it…one couldn't possibly imagine how easy it was to lose those damn things. The next thing she pulled out was her UMP and tact knife, followed by her M1911 placing that next to the tact knife Fox carefully took out the five claymores that were in the bag, three semtex grenades, and two flash bangs. "All that needed to happen was one little slip, where something latched onto the semtex fuse and pulled it off. Then boom."

Shaking her head the female put her 50 Cal under her bed, her M1911 and tact knife under her pillow and UMP on the side of the bed against the wall. Currently she was eyeing the claymores, flash bangs, and semtex's…_what to do with you little darlings._ The female thought to herself before shrugging while walking over to the closet placing them on the surface above the hangers. It was then when she noted all the more extra gear that she would have to lug around while on these missions for this group. _The rangers weren't that bad, I could manage there- and I am sure I can here…I just never had such a variety. _She smirked at the last word; there were all sorts of pockets on the uniforms along with belts that could carry more. What she couldn't help but notice was all the AK ammo that was in the closet. _I can't name that many people who would carry around and AK but I s'pose it has something to do with "when I run outta ammo for my gun." Type situation._

Feeling as if you were being watched was something the sniper had grown accustom to, it was something many people grew accustom to do in her field of business. Spinning on her heel the female threw herself onto the man that was standing behind her, obviously trying to scare the tar out of her. "Shit…" Was all the man managed to get out before the two hit the ground. The sight may have been comical for the man on the floor had the woman not had her fist held up ready to slam down on his face. "Chill out, damn." Tilting her head to the left slightly, much like that of a confused dog just not as notable, the female figured the man was no threat. As she zoned out of attack zone she was able to pick up the sound of laughter outside of her door, only further proving that. "Feisty bugger aren't ya."

"You are the second one to call me that upon meeting me." Fox mumbled as she got up off the man before leaning back on a nearby wall. "Now who the hell are ya, and the hell ya doing here bugging 'lil o me." Watching the man as he pulled himself up the female made sure to catch every detail about the Canadian accented man. He stood taller than her, perhaps by a couple of inches, he was unarmed at the time aside from his pistol, seemed to be good friends with the guy out in the hall who had yet to formally introduce himself as well…all in all the female was unsure of what to think of the two.

"Well that was one hell of a welcoming party, don't you think?" Finally the man outside of the door made his presence known, a slight British accent was more than evident as he spoke. "So I guess Ghost wasn't bitching about nothing, the FNG is a lady. Very much so." A slight blush swept across the snipers features as she quickly crossed her arms and glared. Not giving up his strong front the man walked over to her and held out his right hand, "They call me Royce around here." As odd as if felt the woman pulled out her right hand to shake, it seemed like just in the rangers the right hand was dominant.

"Fox. Who the hell is the moron?" Something about Royce made the female want to speak to him more than the _moron_ on the floor. As usual Fox followed her gut more than she did logic. Shaking she couldn't help but smirk as Royce chuckled.

"The _moron_ would be another member of the one four one, Meat is his call name." Royce replied as the two pulled their hands away from one another, "A good friend of mine." Almost instantly after he finished that sentence the women scoffed, "What?"

"Yeah, what?"

"How the hell do the two of you get along, this guy screams arrogance and annoyance. You're mellow and easier to talk to." Royce chuckled while Meat sent a glare in the female's direction. "Sorry but if you were expecting an innocent little gal you are quite mistaken." Stretching out her shoulder the female couldn't help but smirk, in a way she could tell that although Meat was more than annoyed- in a way she was on his good side.

"We came down to bring you down to the rec room." Meat spoke up swinging his arm around her shoulders earning him a low growl. "Feisty, feisty. Come on we are like the welcoming party." Royce gave her a quick sympathetic look before nudging his head toward the door, "Come on you have to meet the rest of us eventually." Shrugging the woman rolled her eyes before smirking.

"On one condition." Fox replied, Royce glanced over at Meat the two nodding at her was all the female needed. "The only time I will ever go out there to join you and the other _hounds,_ is if the both of you take me kicking and screaming." Fox instantly regretted what she said out loud the second the two grinned from ear to ear.

"Deal."

* * *

><p><p>

_Time skip_

The rec room was nothing like what she had truly expected, in a way she was expecting a room with just some tables setting around. Instead she found that the One four one had pretty much a full bar room to themselves, which seemed like a bit for a small looking group. This one room alone made her question if there were only truly one or two squads full of this team. When she had entered she could quickly feel the liveliness drain out of the room and all the occupants eyes on her. Soap was in there sitting next to some other man; who were looking at a folder before attention was drawn to the three. _Must be the Second in command. Looks like a total –_ "The man next to Captain is the Second in command, Simon "Ghost" Riley."

"Lovely, I see a very _bright_ future for the two of us." Meat snickered as the two escorted her to an empty table. She noted it wasn't too far from the captain but wasn't the furthest. "You know I think I am going to like this room." The female snickered as Meat left to go get drinks for the table.

"Be careful Royce, we don't want the FNG to be wasted for training tomorrow." Quickly the woman spun around on her chair her hazel eyes piercing into the browns across the room. For a minute the two held eye contact, in the end Fox won the battle as he backed down to turn to his friends and converse.

"Now don't go killing your teammates." Royce joked patting her on the shoulder, half expecting some sort of threat for the physical contact. "We might need the idiot in the future." She couldn't help but smirk at his British accent there was just something about the Brits that forced the female to listen to them. Before she could spit something back about the sergeant Meat brought down three large pitchers of Vodka, the smell gave it away. "Had to go get the strong stuff didn't ya?"

"My logic, if the girl is gonna drag us down with her in order for her to make an appearance down here. I might as well have a good time," The man chuckled, Fox could quickly tell by the scent rolling out of his mouth, that he had more than a couple drinks before returning to the table. "And if I brought some wine or some light shit, I figured the Fox would sock me in the groin or something." A snicker from the red head confirming that his intuition was indeed correct.

Bringing up the pitcher to her lips the female took a quick chug of the Vodka, going completely against what past experience told her to do. She wasn't the best at holding her liquor and making sense, but she was pretty good at holding it down - making her the ideal person to play shots or quarters with. Yet not the best to hold in depth important conversations with anyone for anyone set period of time. "So Fox, tell us about yourself." Royce spoke up, proving to be the mature one of the situation, having drunk maybe a cup of the vodka that was in the pitcher handed to him. Fox brought her hazel gaze to his deep browns with a brow arched; it was more than obvious that the female was not in the right mind after such a 'small' portion of liquor she had devoured.

"'bout life? me past experiences, 'lationsips, 'er childhood love?" Royce wanting to take advantage of the situation chose not to, he knew better than to take advantage of the female. "Hi, love?" Before Royce could even begin to ask questions about the FNG it seemed that a certain Ghost was showing interested in the female. It was more than obvious that he was in one of his sober states, well in all's truth it seemed like only the Captain could tell when the man was a little off. From how he was acting it seemed, at least it did to Royce, like he was completely sober and just taking advantage of the situation.

The table was quiet, from the looks of it even though Ghost was showing his interest he wasn't in any mood to get to know the female or even bother to acknowledge anyone's presence at the table. It wasn't like there was much to acknowledge Meat was long gone before he had even returned with the drink, Fox had definitely seen better days, and well he wasn't too fawn of the Ghost of the group. "Your name, is a start?" Fox had been in the middle of chugging a good half of the remaining pitcher had the pitcher up in the air and her eyes glancing over at him for a long while before blinking twice and setting the cup down.

"Master Sergeant Fletcher, S." The smirk that played on her lips was quite enticing; there was just something about the way she was looking at him. _Snap out of it Royce, you are the good guy here. Hell she would more than likely castrate your ass even in her drunken state._ "N'thing else, love?" The table grew quiet for a good minute, sensing that there wouldn't be a question from the man for a while the Fox picked up the pitcher again. This time she was stopped by surprisingly the XO. "Ад вы думаете вы?" Royce himself was quite stunned, the once drunken stupid woman seemed to have regained all of her senses he eyes were glaring through the visors that Ghost had on and deep into his soul- or at least that would be how he felt under those eyes. Upon looking at Ghost, Royce quickly figured that the XO may have thought different, he didn't seem bothered by the woman's response, then again with how much of his face covered it was damn hard to tell what he was feeling at any point in time.

"I _am_ your executive officer..." Before he could finish the woman thrashed her arm out of the XO's arms and took another gulp. "Since the Commander has stepped out I do believe that puts me in charge." Perhaps it was because the five of them were left, that being Ozone, Meat, Ghost, Fox, and himself. This had to be the first time he had seen the XO bother with someone when there were so little people around and nothing had been done wrong-aside from disobeying a silent order. _Bright future, eh?_ Though the scene before him would seem to be the main thing on his mind, it was not. Instead his mind was revolving around the Russian that spewed out of the American's mouth.

* * *

><p><strong>Ghost Point of View<strong>

Normally being called out to the rec room didn't bother him, unless of course, it had something to do with a FNG. There was just something about them that Ghost could not stand, whether it be that they were completely new to the One four one or he was just not a people person. But this one case was pissing him off to no end, "You've got to be kidding me." He spat growled over at the Captain who had handed him the file but seconds ago. "A woman?"

"Shepard picked 'em for a reason Ghost, he picked all of us. Give the FNG a break." Out of everyone Ghost knew damn well that Soap knew he would have the biggest problem with the change. Not bothering with another word the Lieutenant took another shot as more of the gang made their way into the rec room.

"Any other information on the FNG?" He finally asked going over the paper with more detail this time through. "From the U.S. huh?" MacTavish replied with a short 'Da' just before Ghost spoke up once more. "Only Twenty-Four? With all her other affiliations I was not expecting a kid." MacTavish may have wanted to add something after the comment but Ghost once again beat him to speaking. "Wait, look at this Soap."

As more of the Task Force entered the room Ghost knew the guys were complete and total morons but after a good couple of years working with the guys it was more than obvious that something that deep in their blood was not going to be changed. If there was one thing he did learn about the gang it was that there was no reason for unexplainable random silences when they were drinking, so when the room quickly went from annoying loud to dead silent…he knew something was up. Both he and the Captain glanced up at the same time; he noticed this with his peripherals. Right then and there he could tell that the female and him were not going to get along, just simply how she was holding herself up pissed him off.

Here this woman was trampling into guy territory expecting respect from everyone in the room. Ghost was not about to oblige her in any way shape of form, just like any other FNG he wasn't about to baby the girl. Woman or not. She was still an expendable in his eyes a liability that could cost his men their lives. Medic or not he was going to make her life hell. "Play nice," Without turning his head Simon glanced over at the Captain and smirked under his balaclava mask. Turning around he looked back down at the file and was greeted with a page of blackened out lines that had perplexed even the Captain. "I will go get this checked, I am sure I ain't going to get shit out of Shepard but he shouldn't not expect me to bring this to his attention." Now standing Ghost could feel John's eyes looking down at him, "Again, play nice. Last thing we need is a medic/sniper who is second guessing herself." With that John left the room to speak with the General, leaving him with a group of riled up idiots.

As he scanned the room Ghost couldn't help but look forward to the next day's morning training. Half the men were long past gone, doing one retarded stunt or another. Finally his gaze fell upon the table with the woman who didn't seem to have taken but a sip out of the pitcher and was already eying Royce up and down. Annoyed more than anything the Lieutenant stood up and made his way over to the table, it was about time that the girl was put in place. Luckily he had made his way over to the table while Royce was in the middle of some sort of thinking process, he had also managed to sit down before either of the three even looked at him. "Hi, Love?"

For a first impression the girl was not giving him any reason to think high of her in at any means possible. Choosing to stick to his natural way Ghost sat to the right of the female and stayed quiet to sit and listen to what the hell was going on. The table was silent and he couldn't help but wonder what it was that was going on, luckily his eyes were quickly distracted by the female as she began to chug down the rest of what was left in the pitcher. "Your name, is a start?" Royce managed out quite curiously and interested then again he was sure that Meat would be too if he and Ozone weren't playing shots two tables over.

"Master Sergeant Fletcher, S." The woman finally answered after setting down her pitcher, after a moment of silence she spoke up again. "N'thing else, love?" Picking up the alcohol filled container the Master Sergeant began to chug it down, when she had gotten about halfway through he figured he would hear it from Soap if he didn't do something to prevent the FNG from being completely wasted for training in the morning. Because of that he brought his arm up and grasped her wrist stopping any and all movement from happening, which earned him a quick quite sober reply. "The hell do you think ye think you are?" Arching a brow the Lieutenant already knew where this was going, it was going to go downhill and damn fast at that.

"I _am_ your executive officer..." The Lieutenant quickly spat back earning him a quick confused response from the female. Instead of bringing the pitcher back down she thrashed her arm out of his grasp and took another gulp. "Since the Commander has stepped out I do believe that puts me in charge." Perhaps it was the feistiness of the female, no it had to be that. Again the table found itself at a standstill, as if some sort of dominance ploy was going on between the man and woman. He had locked eyes with her, but he knew the female was just figuring he had- with the way her eyes were scanning the glasses he knew that she could feel his sights on her but couldn't quite match him with her own. "Go home." It was a simple order, that was all it was supposed to be it had worked so many other times with other FNG's of course they would simply go to their room since they didn't have the option of leaving.

"To hell with you and your damn balaclava," with that the female stood up and exited the room with Royce dragging Meat down to their rooms minutes later. Ozone was out on the floor, he was sure Royce would be back for him the Sergeant always managed to take care of the group of rowdy men. This left Ghost to himself, now he didn't know much about the woman personally…but if she was even slightly the same tempered as she was when she was next near to passed out drunk he was going to find interest in harassing her the next morning.

* * *

><p><strong>Review Loves!<strong>

Most my stories are on stand still, mainly due to my laziness. But you know what I am now not going to update until I get a god five reviews at least for _every_ chapter of **all** my stories. I will update all of them once to insure this message gets out :3

Much love to the all of you and I am working on posting up all my OC's profiles on my deviantart account. :3  
>So patients please. :P<p> 


	2. Scrambling the Fairies

Scrambling the Fairies

**Disclaimer: **__I do not own any of the Cannon MW2 Characters or MW2 itself. What I do own is Fox other Original Characters (OC's) and the plot for this story.

"_Riot, riot, turn off the lights;_

_We gonna lose our minds tonight._

_What's the deal-eo?"_

A voice echoed in the seemingly deserted gym with a rhythmic beat of footsteps.

"_I love when it's all too much,_

_5a.m. turn the radio up_

_Where's the Rock and Roll?"_

Training wasn't nearly as bad as everyone was trying to make it sound; she figured they would try to butter up the FNG. She was able to keep up with the majority of the squad the only ones who really had her beat would be Ghost who was meters ahead and Ozone who was but a meter away. Fox was hoping that maybe no one else would notice the other American was in the lead by just a tad, sadly lady luck was not on her side; everyone seemed to have noticed and because of that she was damn sure there would be some sort of competitions going on during the trainings…at least whenever the mile run was included.

Currently she was out at the gym she had finished her food and excused herself from Meat, Royce, and Ozone.

"…_So raise you glass if you are wrong,_

_In all the right ways._

_All my underdogs, we will never be,_

_Never be._

_Anything but loud,_

_And nitty gritty dirty freaks. _

_Wont you come on and, come on and_

_Raise Your Glass._

_Just come on and, come on and,_

_Raise Your Glass. _

_Wont you come on and, come on and,_

_Raise your glass._

_Just come on and, come on and,_

_Raise Your Glass."_

Wanting to clear her mind the female went to the one thing she knew she could do while entrapped in the One four one, exercise. Running came natural to her when she wanted to clear her mind and it was for that very reason why she didn't seem to tire out like most other women her age who either didn't exercise or did all the time. At the time the female was jogging at five speed with the inclement at a mere 2.0 listening to an old Pink song called "Raise your Glass" on repeat. It was at times like this when the female was not focused at all with her surroundings and at most ease.

"_Oh shit my glass is empty … that sucks._

_So if you're too school for cool, and you're treated like a fool._

_You can choose to let it go, we can always- we can always_

_Party on our own. So raise your- ah fuck._

_So raise you glass if you are wrong in all the right ways…"_

The female was completely into the song that she hadn't noticed the familiar presence that overheard her singing. She was still running and panting slightly, there was just something about the 2011 song that seemed to make complete sense when talking about the female who was training in the gym. She hadn't been here for more than twenty-four hours and she had already managed to cause all sorts of critical damage to the chain of command within the squad. Royce and Meat, the two trouble makers, happened to come across a female version of themselves who –he wouldn't be surprised- she too would be causing both himself and the rest of the squad issues - once her place was set in stone. Sometimes he couldn't understand how Shepard picked out his men, they always seemed unfit for the job but once thrown into a situation their true colors shone. In a way he was hoping the feisty fox would end up being the same, this could be a change for the better- then again there was always the lingering thought in his mind that the sex deprived men would unintentionally earn themselves a hospital visit.

Snapping back into his own thoughts the man found himself dodging a shoe that was thrown in his general direction. He hadn't even noticed that she had finished both her song and the jog and was slightly annoyed by the whole ordeal he found himself in, for thinking too much of his job. "Oh Captain, a thousand apologies. For a second I thought you were one of those sex crazed _animals._" Soap chuckled; this was certainly something he would never get tired of. In the last twenty four hours the female had managed to come up with two nick names for his men and all other members of the One four one. Wrapping the towel that was hanging around one of the arm rests of the machine around her neck the female whipped the sweat off her forehead before walking over to the CO. "Another thousand apologies if you were hoping for some sort of flower smell or something. Quite the myth men have come up with."

Curious the captain asked, "Myth?" Throwing her hair up into a high ponytail the female snickered some before sliding next to the captain and bringing her mouth to his ear with a hand covering it like some school girl.

"That Girl's don't sweat." She stepped back and exited the gym, now in the mood for a little wine or something after a nice jog. She hadn't noticed how much time had passed or how far she had run, what she did know was the pain in her legs reminded her that like everyone else here she was just as human as them- and that it felt great to work out. The rec room was pretty much empty aside from Ozone who was sitting at the booth. Shrugging the female made her way over to him, "'sup Ozone?" She had to admit, it was nice talking to another American. She didn't have to explain her 'weird' sense of humor or talking habits. Good thing was that the American didn't seem to mind her, and was one of the few who weren't trying to court her into bed- that was always a plus.

"Heard we have a mission coming up soon." That caught the female's attention, which the male seemed to have noticed. "It's still up in the air, but our squad may be sent out."

"May? From what I heard from you guys, we are sent out on the bullshit suicide missions. That…" She brought her hands up to quote and unquote one of the other members she had heard this from. "Is confirmed to have viable Intel but always had shit in the end." She chuckled a bit; Meat had one hell of a way to express himself…most the time the Canadian swore whenever he had the chance. Whether or not he knew who she was quoting the man seemed to agree with the quote, or at least that is how she rationalized the snickers come from his direction.

"Sometimes I worry about the people you hang out with." Shaking his head finished snickering the man continued, "I 'spose that this one may be as important but not "bull shit suicidal" as Shepard would like to assign to the One four One." Fox shrugged, "We will more than likely know sometime tonight- the General has one hell of a way to wake us up." Fox merely smirked taking her first sip of the red wine. "Wine?"

"As much as I do like running morning training half hung-over, I do try to avoid it when I can."

"To hell with that, with our career we don't know if we will even make it the next day." She cut him off this time.

"So what, your logic is to get wasted whenever you have the time at base? You know I am surprised you guys haven't died of alcohol poisoning." That seemed to have caught the sergeant's attention he stared off as if trying to remember a member actually passing away during one of their "resting times".

"Can't say there has been one while I have been around," He finally replied smiling, "Anyway I should probably be off and get some personal training out of the way, something…" he sniffed her and shook his hand in front of his nose, "You seem to have just gotten finished doing." Bidding each other a farewell Fox found herself in a lone room with walls of liquor around her, in a sense it was heaven to her…or at least it would have been had her mind not wandered.

_ Bullets flying, that seemed to be the only constant she had back then. It seemed like no matter where the hell they went there was always someone fucking shooting at them. Sure she hadn't been around after the towers were taken down, but she did find herself in the beginning of whatever the hell it was Pakistan had to do with the whole 'terrorist' business. Normally not one to go against orders or even second guess them Specialist Fletcher couldn't help but wonder why the hell it was the Commander in Chief didn't have to have some sort of military experience behind him, hell she would have even taken a college degree if nothing else. It just seemed like every single one of the recent previous ones, Clinton aside, only seemed to screw the country over time and time again. _

_ Then again this could all simply just be the revenge stricken mood her mind was in after her spotter PFC Allen had been taken out a couple weeks ago. She didn't even know how the hell they had ended up in the position they found themselves in. One minute everything was going according to plan- something she should have caught onto, whenever something goes without a problem in the Rangers meant some shit was going to happen- the next thing she knew the building was being stormed by an unidentified squad of men. Allen had sent out call signs over the radio in hopes that they would be some sort of friendlies, the next thing she knew she clearly recognized Russian playing out of the radio. Allen had turned to her giving her one hell ova confused look both of their minds were set on the same thing, "When the hell did the Russians get involved in this?"_

_ Before they could even brainstorm for answers Allen was covered in blood and crying he was hit. Instantly her medical mindset came into play and without a second thought she latched her 50 Cal to her back before dragging him and herself into their fox hole. Luckily the two had set up a couple of claymores in case something went FUBAR in the plan; so long as those didn't go off they were good. If they did, well then some of the enemies were within fifty feet of their vicinity, normally that was all the room the two would need to get the hell out of there if they were without injury- but they did not have that on their side this time. The nineteen year old PFC managed to keep himself quiet as she did her best to get him patched up. The thing was that she hadn't brought all her gear this time around, they were forced to dump the half she was missing ten clicks south at their little 'base camp' . _

_ The second the claymore went off she knew her time was limited and she went to pick up the PFC, she was only greeted with dead weight causing her to stop in her tracks and look over the young teen. He had his whole life in front of him; she had promised him time and time again that she would get him out of here alive. She was forced to leave him, but she hadn't forgotten the paper that he was holding out to her or the dead blue eyes that were staring seemingly deep into her soul._

Shaking her head the female took another sip of the wine; there were ups and downs to drinking. One of the ups –for fox at least- was the reminders of the shit she went through in the past, the downs were of course all the people she couldn't save and the darker memories she locked up in the deep depths of her mind. Letting out a slight sigh the female wasn't even able to bring the cup to her lips before being interrupted by a familiar voice. "Pack your shit FNG, we got a mission." A low growl escaped the females lips this time before she brought the glass to her lips, _this last one should do the… Ah Fuck…_

"_So raise your glass,_

_For me."_

_**Two hours later…**_

Flying was never an experience she truly enjoyed; this would be all the more evident if the female hadn't thrown on her visors that dark enough to keep from others being able to make out her eyes. Much like Ghost's just slightly more darker; she found that the simple gear was quite useful with sniping…of course since Meat and Royce were now on her squad there should be little to no reason for her to snipe. Or at least that was what she thought, up until the briefing an hour ago. The two snipers were being sent out on two different missions, leaving her with the sniping for Soap Ghost and Ozone. Something like this wouldn't bother her so much if there was another medic assigned with the ground group. Not wanting to get Soap into any more trouble than he might have already been in the female had kept her mouth shut but the look she gave Ozone told anyone who saw it not to expect that to happen much to more.

…

"Fox, you in position?" Soap's voice played through her tact-com.

"Quite. Scouting the area as we speak." She didn't know who it was they were after, it was a name that she knew was supposed to ring a bell but didn't. A lot of things that came to combat seemed to do that to the Sergeant, there were a huge grey area in her mind. She felt as if it had just been locked away without her permission, figuring it was her way of coping with some sort of event that may have happened after Allen's death she didn't say anything.

"Keep us informed and watch the back doors." Soaps voice cut off and she knew it could be a while before she would hear it again; haven been given her orders the female as not about to fuck up her first mission. It was another Intel search, the second she had heard that Fox wasn't sure if she should chuckle or snort while in the briefing- luckily she didn't do either Soap didn't give her any time for it. Which she knew was his way of keeping her out of trouble, even with the short amount of time the two had known each other the man seemed to have been able to read her like a book.

With her left eye looking down the scope Fox was surprised to see a lot of the men 'scrambling', confused the female pressed down on her tact-com as she continued to scan the area. "Something is wrong Soap." She replied over the mic as she followed one of the twenty plus tango's running around. "It looks like they are and/or were spooked by something. Da, something scared them I wouldn't try anything right now." The com was quite for a minute or so, something the female did not want to hear. A quite mic could mean a couple of things, the worst being that the ground were under some sort of attack, dead, or captured already.

"Keep us posted, fox." Soap's voice played back sounding like bells to the females ears.

"Will do Foxie out." Taking her finger off of the com the female couldn't help but wonder what the hell was going on. Unintentionally her mind wondered if Shepard had something to do with this. "What the hell has you guys running like chickens with their heads chopped off?" Her red hair was tied back into another one of her high pony-tails that gave Meat the idea to dub her Jeanie. A mistake only made once on his behalf. Cracking her neck Fox concentrated back on the mission at hand, it was quite peculiar especially to a seasoned sniper like herself. There were only one of two things that could be going on down there to have all the men carrying around there weapons and seeming all sorts of paranoid. Pushing her finger down on the tact com Fox was about to report what she believed could be going on, a rush of pain on her left shoulder kept her from doing so.

**Ozone**

Fox had pretty much had the One four one flip upside down when she had arrived, not only had they lost one of their best medics and would have to pick up a FNG- but she was a woman, and someone who didn't take shit from anyone. Or at least not Meat, not being one to judge too much himself Ozone thought of the FNG more like a sister. Like himself she too was from the United States, or at least that was what Soap had told him- unless the female as a linguist in her past time, she had to be part Italian and Greek of some sort. The way that Latinate and Italian rolled off of her tongue, when she wasn't paying attention of course, was insanely accurate and correct. He knew enough of just about every language to get him buy in this career, and he was sure the John would vouch for him if he brought it up to question.

Currently everyone was pretty much stuck where they stood, or in his case lay, the female had warned them that something was up with the men up and the building they were supposed to be excavating. Other than that he wasn't too sure what was going on, all he did know was that after Ghost and Soap complained about Fox's reliability the captain chose to trust the master Sergeants scouting. Speaking of the most annoying Lieutenant man in the world, Ozone understood that Ghost was not one to trust FNG's but there was just something about the way he was treating Fox that made red alarms go off in his head. On the first night he had stopped her from going into a drunken stupor, something he had never done with any of the other FNG's whenever Meat and Royce dragged them down. Yes, he wasn't completely gone to forget that part…even if he was he didn't think he would forget something so peculiar. He began to think that maybe Ghost actually liked the change, or at least he did for the two seconds before the two got a light squabble.

Shaking his head, Ozone, just accepted the fact that he would never be able to decode the multi-layered Ghost. "Alright Soap, what the hell is going on?" The very said Lieutenant growled. The captain sent the XO a quick glare before turning to click on his mic, he stopped the second a voice rang thought the other side.

"Shit this burns like a bitch—Captain? MacTavish reply, dammit. Get the hell out of there, no don't. I know-…" Ozone was caught off guard not by the swearing but the pain that played through the mic, he could tell that something had happened by just the first sentence in itself. "Dammit I don't have time to bandage-Soap!" What it was that kept the captain from replying he would never know, never in his whole career had the captain not snapped into reality when shit went down like this. Before he could reply to the calls he found himself listening to another voice play through the com link.

"What the hell is going on Fox?" It was Ghost, not a good sign indeed there must have been reason why Soap wasn't replying. The line was dead for a minute or so before it started cutting in and out.

"-ing Sniper, -ta dress-wound, -stings." He could guess what the female was saying and now understood that something was up with her com link, whether she was tapping on and off of it or it was giving out.

"Fox, fix you link. What the hell is going on?"

"Gh-, is that -? FUBAR -is fucking FUB-. - snipers, two-least." Again he could guess what was going on, but now he knew it had to be the link itself it had to have been hit or something. If she was talking through it continuously and everything was fine, they would be hearing her as crystal clear as they were earlier.

"Two snipers?"

"Positive." Finally it seemed that it was clearing up, "Ugh~ Shit that had to have been an intervention with the shell I pulled out. OH SH-! How did-." From the sounds of things something was going down in the fox hole –dubbed by fox herself, "I am not ready to die yet.-." Static played through over the communication links along with sounds he associated with wind blowing in the mic. "- - - my hand. You stronzo." The last word though he didn't know off the top of his head he figured was fox running her mouth at whoever believed they could ambush her. "-Got- packet? What are you doing carrying a packet. Fuck it, Ghost?"

Before the XO could reply Soap cut into the mic, "Fox! Ghost, Ozone! Call in."

"Fox rendezvous with us back at the evac. Soap where the hell were you?" Ghost spat over the link, Fox replied with a quick 'I'll be surprised if I don't bleed out first.' Before her link was cut out and Ghost continued on, "Fox was hit, what kind of piece of shit com links are these?" Choosing to meet up with the FNG Ozone still prone turned one hundred and eighty degrees to head over to the Evac zone. It was more than obvious the area was swarming with enemies, being in no rush to get shot at the moment Ozone chose to keep his prone position and slowly make his way over to the Evac.

**Fox**

Being hit was not something that she wanted to have happen on her first mission, good news was that she was a medic and she did manage to dress the wound bad news was she couldn't do anything about her broken wrist. "Run to Evac, I don't think so." Still in her foxhole the female pulled her .50 Cal back up to her eye bringing the sight where it was needed, scoping the area Fox was surprised to find most the men out of the building. Bringing her finger back to the com link Fox knew she didn't have much time until she would have to leave. Her wound wasn't critical but the blood lose was something that would eventually catch up to her. "Ghost, if you want to clear the building go now. I am sure I have drawn plenty attention to my position."

"I ordered you to Evac," Ghost's voice spat back causing Fox to flinch slightly.

"Yeah, but you have no idea what you are getting in." Picking up her .50 cal the female made her way to another scouting position. "I am heading out to another spotting position; I am not going to become a liability Ghost. And I am not about to leave my team to dive head first into unknown ground. So kiss my ass and get over it." The forest was quite dense, good news was that with her sensitive ears she would more than likely hear someone else before they would hear her. Another plus side was it made her job of switching position quite easy which she was more than grateful for at the time. With her previous position already compromised Fox grabbed all her claymores and set them up in her surrounding area. That was what little defense she had against the swarming infantry that was hunting her down. "I have a temporary position get your ass in there before I have to make another run for it."

"You heard the girl." Soaps voice played over the mic, first Soap made his way out of the forest the next was Ghost. "Ozone?"

"I am on my way give me five minutes, I have a bit of a… situation going on." Ozone replied.

Snickering to herself Fox watched as both the Captain and XO immerged out of the brush. She knew that it would only be a matter of time before someone either ran through or into her claymores, and she seriously hoped for the later. Thirty or so seconds after the two made themselves known Ozone was out and running fifty or so yards behind them. "Second story is the only part of the house that I can't honestly say is clear. The curtains are closed like they were earlier, so watch out for the stairs boys." If there was one thing fox learned in the rangers, it would have to be that her instinct would keep her alive even if it defied any and all logic.

"Understood." Soap replied over the com for the second time since she had been ambushed.

"It's nice to know the Captain ain't dead…" Fox replied with a light chuckle as she continued to scout the surrounding area. "I really doubt that they would clear home for some little itty bitt- oh shit." Snapping her finger away from the com link Fox tilted her head to the right keeping her eye in the scope while she lowered her profile. Her barrel was still straight and any other sniper who would have done this would have had a hard time to zero in and actually hit the enemy. Well, Fox was anything but "any other sniper", she had actually done this quite a bit in the past- much to all her previous scouter's amazement. "No longer scoping the building boys, I got myself an intervention to find."

"Take 'em out girl." Ozone chirped back bringing a smile to her lips.

There wasn't too much to scope of the area, the brush line was clear or at least she hadn't seen his scope reflect in the sunlight quite yet. Pressing her lips together Fox wasn't about to let this other sniper –who had a bad taste in weapon choice in her point of view- get the best of her. As she let out a sigh her eyes widened, the sniper was not in the brush he was in the building…that or the idiots weren't idiots and were distracting her from the house. "Second story either has a sniper boys or some moron with a mirror, I'm scouting now-" Flinching Fox ignored the urge to turn around and investigate who or what had set off her claymore the red head turned her sights to the second story. "I see me a barrel." The female raised her sights to where the enemy was one hair –as she liked to say- above the cross, with her breath already controlled Fox had no choice but to take a quick shot as a second claymore went off. "Sorry boys but it looks like my little fox hole has been found and I am in no mood to die just quite yet."

"Get the hell out of there Fox." Soap replied she was sure Ghost wasn't going to let her live this one down.

"Already working on that very order Ghost ordered me earlier, Safety and peace be with you brothers." Already down the small hill below her fox hole the red head had already changed to her pistol as she made her way back to evac. "Now let's see how many of these little buggers I can avoid."

**Ghost**

With fox's position compromised they had no other choice than to clear the building with no scouting what so ever. Soap had just finished mumbling that it wasn't her fault and they could handle themselves when Ozone had raised his thoughts on her situation. Ghost had choice to keep his comments to himself which didn't happen too often, his mind was more focused on the unknown in the building than the FNG the moment she gave them the go ahead. He didn't completely trust the woman quite yet, this was her first mission and not only had her position been compromised but she also ignored a direct order and had mentioned being hit.

Taking his mind off of the FNG Ghost brought his silenced MP5K up as he and Ozone took their respectful positions before Soap kicked the door in to clear the closed room that stood before them. As the familiar sound of gunfire hit his ear Ghost knocked out two of the five men in the room, hitting one square in the forehead and the other over the heart. "Cleared." Ozone piped up as silence filled the room. Scanning the room Ghost didn't spot any obvious intel in the room causing him to frown under the balaclava.

"If this is another one of those suicide missions I am going to-," Soap was the one to cut him off stopping him short of the threat he was about to make on their general's life.

"Intel or not, according to Shepard his resources are legit."

"So we are going to run into these bullshit scenarios and risk our lives because he hasn't gotten the idea that whatever moron he is getting his intel from is a fraud." Ghost had to admit, he couldn't have worded it better himself. Ignoring the comment John made his way out of the room while he brought his hand up to the tact com. With me and Ozone right behind him.

"You said you spotted a sniper before leaving your position is he-."

"He's no threat. Can't say there weren't any others in the room though," Ghost let out an irate sigh the female didn't care who she was talking to. No matter who the person or their position she would cut them off before they finished what they were saying, him included.

"Understood. Wait up at Evac."

"Oh, but I would like to go out and chase the little birdies." Ozone snickered at her remark while he spotted Soap grinning. "Then again, being shot once hurts like a bitch. I think I will just chill here until the Calvary arrives." The three of them were now ascending the steps, John was up front followed by Ozone while he covered the rear. "One more thing you guys," Fox's voice rang into his ear, "I would hurry up, I don't see or hear many people around me. They may be heading back."

"No need to tell us twice." Ozone replied as the three cleared the first room down the hall. Though he hadn't had it happen yet, Ghost couldn't help but come across someone who was actually in the bathroom when they came to clear out their house. The second room looked something like a study, he noted that the computer was missing of course. Well the tower. "Once again we find ourselves in a situation where the enemy seemed to know we were coming."

"Da." Soap exited the room and made his way into the final, as the three prepped themselves to clear Ghost overheard a door slamming shut somewhere downstairs. "Ghost." Without having to be told anything else the balaclava masked crusader made his way over to the stairs. The closer he came to them the louder the voices played, and though he didn't speak much Spanish he knew that the residents were a little more than angered. "Last room is cleared, lets head out."

"Oh joyful, I get to meet up with my favorite people in the world." Fox chirped back, "And look at that the chopper isn't too far."

"Ghost we are exiting through this back window." Nodding, even though he knew no one could see, Ghost peered down the hall once more before hussling over to the master bedroom. "Into the tree and out into the brush." Nodding alongside Ozone John had the sergeant leave first, once he was out the door Ghost was ushered out. "No worries, I got your back." Rolling his eyes as he literally stepped onto the large tree branch that was maybe three feet away from the window Ghost scurried down the limb and over to the trunk. Turning he saw Soap not far behind him, and the room was still clear. Making his way around the trunk Ghost followed Ozone onto a second thick branch and managed his way as far as he could before he too rolled into the brush.

With the sound of the bushes rustling behind him Ghost knew that John was not far behind, "Fox, hold the chopper and give us five." Bringing his fingers down from the tact com Ghost glanced back at John who flashed him a smile before turning forward and shaking his head. If Jon is any example the _Scottish are just so damn weird._

**Authors Note:**

Well here is chapter two… and I updated because the second I finished my assassins chapters Kagirinai happened to have just added this story on his/her alert list. :3

I felt as if I had to update just for you Kagirinai :D

_More chapters will be posted later. . . it's one a.m. here…and I should prob. Get to sleep….or at least work on someone shots. :3__ussians are just so damn tact com Ghost glanced back at John who flashed him a smile before turning forward and shaki_


	3. Destroying the Ozone

Destroying the Ozone

**Disclaimer: **I do not own any of the Cannon MW2 Characters or MW2 itself. What I do own is Fox other Original Characters (OC's) and the plot for this story.

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><p>The second she arrived back on base she found herself in a mighty awkward situation. "So Fox, how about it?" Meat insisted while Royce hunted down the Ozone. For some reason Meat had to ask the woman if she'd run and endurance challenge against Ozone and with her arm in a brace she knew she didn't have the bite to deny antagonizer. She knew that he knew too, which was why he was smirking at her glare. "You know you want to." He chirped leaning closer to her, the position he had put her in reminded her of those old high school movies where the boy would lean over the girl he was going to ask out.<p>

"Get out of my space lad." She finally growled, only causing his smirk to intensify. Luckily someone was looking down at her from above, a familiar balaclava masked crusader walked into the room. "Ghost help buddy?" In a way she was pleading, hoping, and even praying that he would set aside the fact that she had disobeyed a direct order on the previous mission and help his fellow brother- er sister. She couldn't say her hopes were given up when the man glanced at them –or so she thought and left the room out of her direct view. "Fuck you too, Ghost!" Her eyes were now set on the snickering Canadian, Fox let out another growl before slamming her knee as hard as she could in his groin, obviously catching the Canadian off guard and sending him into all sorts of pain. "That will just have to do for now. Next time I say get out of my bubble, do it. Consider this a warning." Content Fox brought down her shades and walked past both Ozone and Royce, "Some other time?"

"Fine with me." Ozone smiled back, "Just tell me when in advance."

"So you can get stab yourself with some steroids?" The three laughed before she headed off lifting a hand up and actually replying to the comment, "Don't think for a second I'm afraid of destroying you, Ozone. See you two around." She was making her way back to her room, she had just gotten back from her first mission with the one four one—and she had to admit it was more tiring than she thought it would be. She was hoping that perhaps the other snipers would have been out; they were great friends but she knew that friends was not something you should have while in this type of business. Friends meant you had attachments and in any field even somewhat related to the one she was in, it was best to not have any sort of attached strings. For emotional purposes.

_"What's your name squirt?" A twenty one year old Fox asked her new spotter, not wanting to seem like a complete and total dick or threat to the kid. He was new and she was in need of one for quite some time now, she had been on her own for a couple months. Sniping school only grew even more complicated and harder to complete as the years went by and the United States got involved in more and more wars in need of the position. Looking over the built kid, Fox couldn't help but wonder what the hell he was doing becoming a sniper and not some sort of insanely buffed out Special Forces prick. _

_ "Specialist David Allen, Sergeant." Fox set his hand down from the salute and brought it to shake her right hand._

_ "No need kid, you are now my right hand man, my brother, consider us family now." She didn't need to look back at his face the lack of words told her everything. Sure there was some necessity for some sort of formalities, but Fox didn't feel like it was her duty to go out and make the kids life a miserable hell. Whatever they had taught him at these 'new and improved' sniping institutes had nothing to do with how things we were really run down on the ground. Every sniper had his or her own way to make sense of things, they had their own way of insuring the safety of their man, of making logic of the retarded wars congress was throwing them in. "Get used to the informalities when it comes to me, sure keep them around for the sergeants who have sticks shoved so far up their asses it's not funny; but as far as I am concerned there is no need to be formal when your speaking to me. If I was so anal about the frivolous shit I would be one bored S.O.B. out on missions." The last comment seemed to have lightened the air more so than she had intended, the Specialist let out a chuckle. "There ya go, loosen up and we will get along just fine."_

Waking up Fox couldn't hold back the smile that was reaching from ear to ear on her face; without a doubt she missed the kid but with memories like that she couldn't help but feel as a little better. Swinging her legs around to hang off the side of the bed Fox brought both her arms out and stretched, earning her the sound of her back popping. She then looked over to the red digits on the clock that was given to her on the first day as a 'home settling gift' or something, "Three 'o eight, huh?" Forcing herself out of bed Fox looked down at her clothing, "I doubt anyone will be out at this hour, which means I am perfectly fine how I am to run a couple of miles." She was dressed in 'easy to slip on' clothes, with all the trouble she had getting the BDU shorts off she was in no rush to throw on something tight.

After throwing on some snicker she made her way down the dimly lit room, the walk there was slightly chilly. The red head now wished she had thrown on some slacks complemented with a short sleeved shirt instead of keeping on the short beach shorts and tank top she had put on hours ago. Rubbing her arms she quickened her pace knowing the run would quickly warm her up, as she turned down the hall that fed into the gym her the Master Sergeant tilted her head to the left slightly as the halls echoed with the sound of weights being lifted and dropped continuously. The walk didn't take but maybe five minutes at most, she couldn't name anyone that would be in the gym at this time at the top of her head.

Peering around the corner the American was slightly shocked to find the XO in the gym doing bench presses, _now what the hell?_ At first her eyes were set on the one arm she could see instantly with him facing the same way as the hall she wasn't surprised to not see him stop and ask what it was she was doing out at the wee hours in the morning, hell he hadn't seen her yet. As her gaze moved upward the hazel eyed American brought a hand to her mouth, his balaclava mast was lifted up to his nose; giving her perfect view of his defined facial features and his short cut facial hair. One of her goals before she passed was to steal the XO's mask and finally see what was under it, rumor ran around that only the Captain knew what he actually looked like… and Meat had bet she wouldn't ever be able to pull the stunt off- not being one to turn down a dare the female latched onto the idea and shook on it. _I am sure that this doesn't really count,_ she smirked before leaning back on the inside part of the hallway out of his sight. _Now I have to make this seem as natural as possible. What to do…_

The devious little Fox didn't have to think too long before a thought hit her. Smirking the female took a couple steps back away from the entrance and casually untied her shoe leaving the shoelaces hanging out of the sneakers. Stepping back some more the female brought her gaze down to the laces and focused on them, making her way toward the entrance of the gym Fox seemingly casually tripped into the room gaining Ghost's attention and snapping him out of whatever trance he was in. "What the hell?" Fox now on the floor face down rolled over onto her back and rubbed her now possibly reinjured arm. _Shit, how the hell did I forget about __this?_ Knowing the pain would subside eventually the woman sat upright and glanced over at the XO who was casually setting his pistol down on the bench press next to him. "It's you." _Oh can't you feel the love?_

"You has a name, twit." Fox growled as she took her time in retying her shoelaces, silence followed until she finished that task and brought herself back up on her feet before speaking up once more her casted arm now on her waist. "What the hell are you doing at this hour?" Now that she was looking directly at the man she noted his mask was brought back down and looked how it did on any other occasion.

"What anyone else sitting on a bench press would do in a gym." The Lieutenant replied before asking her a quick question back. "You?" _Tempting as it is to say 'what anyone else who had just tripped into a room would be doing.' I think I would rather avoid an unnerving heated argument. _

"Alright Captain Charisma," The Sergeant grumbled before making her way toward the treadmill, "I'm going to go for a little run." With that said she got up onto the machine before placing her feet on the nonmoving plastic ends, choosing to only run at 3mph for now on the second level of incline she threw whatever worries she had behind her the second she stepped onto the now running machine.

011020000101011010001020

**Ghost**

Returning back to his bench presses the second the other was running Simon couldn't help but watch the Sergeant, it didn't help that she was only maybe fifteen yards or so directly in front of him either. It was still too soon to be able to tell if this was some sort of normal routine she did every morning, from what he understood Shepherd had picked her up while she was out on one of her morning jogs. The FNG still had a cloud of mystery around her, there was so much that everyone didn't know about her which annoyed him to no end. The only thing that could possibly annoy him any more would be if something like this was routine and he would have to share his heaven with the woman who didn't follow orders and put herself in more danger than necessary.

Initially when she had fallen into the room –on her bad arm need he add- he was genuinely concerned about the woman. Any worries that he did have for her were instantly shot out the door the second she opened her mouth and asked him the most retarded question she could have asked. The only thing that seemed to come out of this whole situation was the whole fact that she didn't seem to be in a talk-a-tive mood while she ran. Maybe, just maybe if that one item didn't change he could manage to deal with the daily encounters they would have at this time in the morning.

Pulling his arms to his core Ghost finished another of the many reps he had put in for the day already; his shaded blue eyes were still on the woman. He had come out here due another one of the annoying dreams he had; since there was no desirable woman around to allow him to relieve himself the XO threw on a shirt and made his way to the gym. It was his little sanctuary that was now being invaded by a cunning little fox. "Ghost?" Fox questioned, giving her a curt nod she continued while still running. "Don't think that for one minute I am opening up or confining in you, but…" Sending her another nod the female continued, "How long does amnesia last?" The room stayed quiet –aside of her rhythmic footsteps- for a good minute before he replied with a light shrug as he continued with his presses.

"A couple minutes to a couple years I would figure. Why?" Snapping her head to face him Ghost was surprised to find a genuine light smile on her features; it wasn't like any of the other sneaky smirks or devious grins that he had seen play on her features in the past couple days but it still reminded him of a fox.

"Curiosity I s'pose." After adding her own quick shrug she went on to facing the wall as she continued her jog. Content with the silence he went back to his reps and the room died down once more of any conversation for another half hour. "Thanks."

It was Saturday meaning there was no morning training that he would have to run, giving Ghost too much spare time for his liking. After the Gym scene that had played earlier the very same morning Fox and he went on with their own workouts, Fox left ten minutes till breakfast and he himself five minutes after. The next eventful thing that occurred happened during breakfast in the rec room, he had just walked into the room with the Captain at his side and Meat was knocked out by the sledge hammer that Fox carried around on her arm. He hadn't had any idea what had caused the scene, but just knowing Meat and Fox's personality he knew that the man had said something to piss her off.

Now it was lunch hour and Soap had asked him to check on the two of them when they hadn't arrived for food, quite uncommon since the both of them seemed to enjoy inhaling anything edible that was given to them. He obviously rebutted the idea but after maybe a minute or two of silence the Lieutenant sat up and left knowing there was no changing the Captain mind.

The Infirmary was one of the few locations on the base that most one four one members seem to try and avoid like the plague, yet Fox seemed to have made it her second home injured or not. "I told you the son-ova-bitch is fine, now let me go dammit." From the sounds of things the Vixen was quite vexed in his mind. Sure the female was not a pleasure to be around –at least not to him- but rarely did he ever hear her ordering someone around that who wasn't Meat. He couldn't make out what the other medic was telling her but he could tell by the shadows that poured out of the opening of the curtain and onto the floor that she didn't like what he was saying. "If the prick wasn't such an instigator we wouldn't have had this problem. The buggers fractured, no shit I know."

Moving the curtain out of his way Ghost was amused by the scene before him; both medics were looking at the X-rays that were hanging up on the lighted screen. "We need to make sure it isn't just a hairline." Fox quickly cut him off,

"Hairline fracture or not twit, I am going to have to keep the damn thing in a cast. And I am not about to stop _correcting_ Meat when he steps out of line dammit. We don't need to check shit- give me a week and everything will be back to normal." Fox stood up and it wasn't until then that it dawned upon him she was in one of the aprons they gave you; quickly Ghost averted his eyes from her open back to the picture she was pointing at. "This is a hairline Specialist, if the damn thing was broken I don't think I would have walked here as quietly as I had, or hit the ass as lightly as I did. Now quit over investigating everything because I am a female and let me get some grub."

The two spun around facing him, his silent appearance didn't seem to have had any effect on the female while the young man seemed slightly startled. "Captain is looking for ya." Whatever had made him throw the woman the life raft he didn't know, all he did know was that the female took hold of it without so much as a second thought.

"Now whether you like it or not I am leaving." With that the two of them made their way out of the infirmary and out into the halls. "The hell does Soap want with me?" She finally asked after five or so minutes as they neared the rec room.

000100101101102010011000101

**Fox**

In a sense she was expecting an answer from the masked man before they entered the dining area, there had to have been some reason for the Captain to send Ghost instead of someone like Royce or Ozone. "He isn't," Ghost finally replied as they entered the rec room before heading away from her and toward the Captain, who only sent her a quick nod before turning around. To say that Fox was confused would be the understatement of the year, the female was downright perplexed but before she could muster up any idea as to what the hell had happened she found herself surrounded by no one other than Royce and Ozone themselves.

"Everything check out?" Royce asked seeming somewhat worried over the female, smirking the woman threw her arms up behind her head.

"If you are asking if Meat is okay, well he will be waking up sooner or later. If you were asking if I knocked out Johnson- no." Before she could add onto her smart ass remark Ozone cut in.

"Later today?" For some reason the two of them seemed to be synched up to one another, all this morning the two of them would flip subjects at the drop of a dime –completely confusing anyone who was listening to them- and the both of them never seemed to not know what the other was asking. Royce had explained to Meat it was an American thing seconds before Meat gave his thoughts of the matter.

"Sounds fine to me, before or after food?" Fox replied her smirk deepening.

"Before, I don't feel like upchucking my food. Just a good jog sound fine?" Fox nodded as the three of them made their way back to the table, now she had something to look forward to. Which was good, not having anything to do would drive her insane when she was on R&R time away from the Rangers and Airborne- which happened maybe for a month every ten months. To think that she would find herself with nothing to do every weekend was seriously beginning to worry her.

"I can't believe the moron said what he did." Royce spoke up as Fox rested her head on her free fingers. "I mean the guy can be stupid, but I always believed he knew where the line was drawn." Fox shrugged seemingly uncaring about the whole situation, "Can't say I blame ya for whacking him as hard as you had."

"I wish I had hit him harder, my arm is still just fractured."

"Just?" Ozone asked obviously confused and concerned about her response, "I was under the impression you enjoyed going out on missions." Fox shrugged, she did that was no lie it was just about the only thing that didn't involve her being bored for hours of the day.

"Yeah, honestly I did enjoy the first mission and enjoyed all the ones I went on back with airborne and the rangers." She smirked to herself before continuing on, "It's just this Fox isn't too good at keeping comments to herself. Along with her opinions of the mission she is being sent on, as my other Commanding Officers. I am sure they would agree."

"Ah, not seeing eye to eye with the general, are ya?" Ozone managed before taking a long drink of his alcohol. "Can't say you will really get used to it, more like you tend to expect the worse-case scenario any and every time you hear the word 'mission and Intel' in the same sentence."

"Pssht. I wouldn't doubt; I don't know who the hell gave him his ranks. I just cannot trust the idiot, and he is only giving me more reason not to as the day goes by." The red head flipped her hair out of her face as she finished her comment; Royce just sat back and listened to the Americans voice their comments about their general.

"Good to know that you caught on to the generals habits. But like Ozone said, gal. You just get used to it." She could only take another swig of her drink at her friend's remark. _I don't think you should get used to going on bull shit suicidal missions._ She thought before placing her half full drink down on the table and standing.

"I'm going to rest, if you guys aren't sent on any more missions today and are here then I shall take you." She poked Ozone in the chest, "Up on your offer. And if you are gone, just know that I will be lying on my bed making out creatures fighting each other to the death on the plain ceiling." The two men chuckled as she turned to leave, on her way out of the room the woman noted that both Ghost and Soap were sitting at the bar.

Exiting the room her hazel eyes scanned the empty walls as she made her way to her room, which was on the opposite of both the captains and lieutenants. Opening her door and entering the room as silently as she could she shut the door behind her, not bothering to lock it before lazily making it to her bed. She hadn't noticed how tired she was until she dropped like dead weight onto the comfortable bed and passed out.

0002000101010000010101010

**Soap**

After eating lunch both Soap and Ghost made their way outside for a drag, nothing unusual there the two of them continued their conversation on the members of the one four one. It was here where Soap was informed of the FNG's sudden appearance in the weight room early in the morning. There wasn't anything wrong with the information, in her papers it had been mentioned that she took strolls before sunrise and enjoyed watching the sun rise while doing so. What did bother him was the question that she had asked Ghost, "I don't believe it was just a question out of mere curiosity like she claims John."

He glanced over at Simon as he let out a long drag, "Why not? Perhaps she has a family member or close friend er comrade suffering from it. Perhaps a sibling? There are many explanations Ghost." Simon groaned slightly as he let out a drag before dropping the cigarette on the ground and stomping it out.

"There is something off about this one John. There is just too much blackened out on her papers." He watched as Simon leaned back on the building, "I shouldn't have to remind about how insistent Shepherd is on sending her on another mission even with her current injury." Now that one even he couldn't deny, even when he had informed Shepherd about her injury he had been quite adamant on attempting to get her out into the field. "Do you want to hear what I think?" He shrugged as he let out another drag.

"Shoot."

"She knows something that he doesn't want her to know." Soap set his arm down telling Ghost he had his full attention, "She is the one who has amnesia and knows something that Shepherd doesn't want her to- he pulled her out of the Rangers in order to get rid of her." Bringing the cigarette back up John found himself swimming in his own thoughts as Ghost continued on. "I know you are the last person who wants to hear this John, but this is too much like Lynx." He casually glanced over at Simon a brow arched. After a moment of silence he decided to go against what his mind told him not to ask.

"How so?" Lynx and himself were close for as long as he could remember, ever since she had arrived in the one four one anyone could tell that the two of them had some sort of connection, Shepherd included. The only person she wrote directly to, aside from Shepherd, was himself and he knew a lot of things that most people weren't allowed to know. Of course this relationship blossomed after he lost Price but if anything it was merely just a friendship sort of relationship, though any and every one would insist otherwise…Simon included.

"That is for another day," With that Simon made his way back into the building leaving him with his own thoughts. Makarov, he wasn't sure how but he knew by what little information she would let leak that Lynx sure as hell thought that he was planning something big, before said big thing happened. She had also been the one to warn him about Shepherd, like Fox and Price she didn't trust the General what so ever and it seemed that the longer she stayed away the more that mistrust grew. He merely believed it was because she was not around nearly as much as the rest of the one four one members were, Shepherd was not sunshine and daisies but he was manageable – so long as you were around long enough to get to know how he works.

The Captain let out one final drag before stomping his cigarette out as well, with one final look at afternoon skies he made his way back into the building unsure of what he was going to do with the rest of his day- or his jumbled thoughts.

00101000200010101010

**Ghost**

He had made his way into the mess hall for dinner and wasn't too surprised not finding John there, this was about the time he was briefed on missions that were to take place the following morning. What did slightly surprise the executive officer was the empty table where Meat, Royce, Ozone and Fox ate. He continued over to grab some food but stopped when he noticed that Johnson was not their either. Not liking the disappearance of the medic he set down the half-filled plate on a nearby table before glancing over the mess hall. Phoenix, Juggernaut, Sun, Ginger, and Anubis were all present meaning they had to have arrived from their mission sometime between lunch and now. Some were out of uniform while the others were not.

Just as he redirected his attention from the other one four one squad two bodies ran into the room, both heading straight for him. Ozone was the first to reach him, panting slightly Ghost was expecting to find Fox and Meat trailing behind. He had overheard the loud table earlier mention some sort of competition Meat had planned out before he was knocked into unconsciousness between Ozone and Fox. "Ghost. Where is Captain?" The urgency in his voice c caught him slightly off guard, Ozone was the calm one out of the group drunk or not. Before he could voice his own questions Royce was the next to speak up.

"I told you Shepherd called for him." Annoyed Simon found himself glaring behind the darkened lenses, unseen to the two men.

"What's going on?" Whether or not they didn't hear him he didn't know, what he did know was that his question was shoved to the side as the two of them continued talking.

"This was a complete waste of time Ozone."

"What did we have to lose? She is missing he should be informed no matter what."

"If Shepherd ordered her to do something even Fox knows better than to-." Tired of being ignored Ghost placed a hand on a shoulder of the two frantic comrades.

"What's going on?" This time his voice was more assertive and stern, from what he obtained from the two of them Fox was missing…possibly on Shepherds orders. "Where is Johnson?" Even Shepherd couldn't order men out without them being cleared, but he did have his ways of getting someone cleared well before they should be. This wouldn't be the first time he would have used his powers to get someone who shouldn't be out in the field out there.

"We went to go check on Fox," Ozone began only to have Royce cut him off.

"Meat had set up some sort of competition for these two, a race. They were to meet up before dinner so the two of us made our way down to her room." At that Ghost arched a brow; rarely did anyone other than Meat go down into the Officer's quarters for any reason.

"We saw that she wasn't there," Ozone interrupted sending an annoyed look over to Royce, "So we figured she would be in the bench room, with the treadmills being there, or maybe the basketball court or track field. She wasn't anywhere though. Since we were there when she whacked Meat into unconsciousness we figured she may be in there for some check-up or something." Ozone paused as he retracted his arms and crossed them, not amused by the situation unfolding. "Johnson wasn't there either. Meat was the only one in there, in all his unconsciousness glory. We got word from Anubis over there before he walked in that Captain was called into-"

"GHOST!" John stormed into the room interrupting Ozone from his explanation. He was expecting to find John fully geared and handing some sort of pack his way, instead the Scott stood at the door and motioned for him to join him. Glancing back over at Ozone and Royce Ghost merely nodded.

"I'll figure this out." He mumbled before making his way over to his friend, his plate of food completely forgotten on the table at this point. He was a couple steps away from him when John turned around and continued to march off; Ghost merely followed knowing he would speak when he felt it necessary.

* * *

><p><strong>Authors Note:<strong>

Well here is chapter three… again I find myself up at one in the morning not tired at all. AS much as I would love to work on the next chapter my alarm will be going off in three hours for me to get ready for my six am class. :P

Before I hit the hay I want to apologize for saying Soap was Russian, I don't know what got over me. o.o But no he is Scottish here as well, I will eventually go back and fix the errors (documents are no longer here on fanfic so that wont happen for a while.)

I have also tried to work on using more "he/she instead of Fox/Ghost" all the time. I am working on it, and now that I read it I do like how it sounds. So thank you for the review and comment about that .

**A thousand thanks to the following for reviewing/subscribing:**

**crusherccme :** Yay Alert and fave! love the feedback, hope this wasn't a let down.  
><strong>Verity A :<strong> thanks for the memo, I would have completely missed it :D I enjoy reviews like the one you sent, sorry it took so long to update  
><strong>CrimsonNightingale : <strong>Yay! Alert and fav. Author, I love you :DD  
><strong>Kagirinai : <strong> Glad you liked Chapter two. Thanks for the update with Soap as well. I write these so late...I don't know how they sound as decent as they do. :D

I promise to work on my spelling you guys and verb usage. I graduated last June and college isn't quite teaching me what I would like to learn about writing, but one day. :D Feel free to tell me what you think I could work on, I do not mind constructive criticism. How am I to get better if I don't know what I'm doing wrong, no?


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